Ok this is pretty significant. UP has landed the Schneider Intermodal contract. As an IMC (Intermodal Marketing Company) Schneider has one of the largest domestic fleets of 53’s at over 25,000 containers. The contract will make UP the primary mover of western lanes beginning in Jan of 2023.
This is the third IM contract UP has landed in a year. First SWIFT Intermodal, then APL Logistics both of those contracts have begun as of this month.
UP seems to be getting pretty competitive in the IM space if that’s the case. This is nice to see someone finally challenge BNSF. With the Schneider contract CSX handles this traffic primarily in the east. Exisitng UP-CSX interline will streamline this service vs. BNSF.
I looked at both Swift Schneider intermodal traffic revenue then compared it to JB Hunt for the same time frame as in quarterly basis. Their combined revenue is less than half of JB Hunts revenue for the same time. I get the impression that BNSF is not going to be hurting for traffic and it will still be able to increase the amount of traffic it’s getting from companies like Amazon or Walmart or FedEx even more.
Losing SCHNL, KNX, and APL will knock out 15% of BNSF’s intermodal traffic. That’s fairly large. Yes Amazon, Walmart, and FedEx can put more traffic online yet it won’t fill that gap. While JBH commands BNSF capacity for obvious reasons they only plan on an additonal 12,000 boxes coming online this year.
Your forgetting the biggest elephant in the room. For the last 3 years UPS has been forced to run OTR teams on west coast runs due to lack of space on BNSF trains. They need the extra space for them also. JB Hunt is adding 12K more to their fleet that is half of what Schneider alone has. Walmart wants to double their fleet Amazon is adding containers as fast as they can. Trust me the loss of these customers is not going to be felt long term. Short term they may feel it but with the free space they will have for their trains someone will be wanting it.
Union Pacific will be the first railroad in the world to begin autonomous drayage. TuSimple will provide L4 fully autonomous (No Driver on board) drayage on an 80 mile trip between Phoenix and Tucso, AZ. Service begins this spring.
550 miles in real test service- what a joke. I would have expected 5,500+ miles in real testing before putting this on the road. AZ driver’s better check your rear view mirror.
Well here’s some clever thinking. CMA-CGM and Union Pacific are teaming up to move California’s almond crop via the Ports of LA/LB. Current capacity limitations out the Port of Oakland have led to this new service.
Two new IM services were created in the process. Empty boxes at the Port of Oakland are drayed to the Central Valley. There they get stuffed with almonds for export via POLA/POLB. The boxes are then drayed back to POO for loading on a new IM service UP has started.
Also a second service from the Central Valley. The same scenario with draying empties from POO happens as well. This generates matchback loads of export Califronia dairy products via POLA/POLB. This serivce has added containers stuffed with almond to its service. Both trains operate once a week. In total 400 boxes/week between both trains are moved south for export.
UP will be running a trial using one man crews in certain territories with ground based “expeditors”. Video below details the position and a typical day… Per say…
Sam is going on duty at the Missouri Valley IA depot. Sam is looking at a PTC screen that is not active, still cut out. County Road 24 looks a lot like the depot crossing at Missouri Valley. It looks like the engineer dropped off an E knuckle, but Sam’s replacement knuckle was an F. Which is what that car would need.
Driving the train is great. One problem, much of the main tracks on the exCNW lines don’t have trackside roads. Even paralleling public roads are sometimes far from the tracks. A train will still have to wait the time, probably hours-especially if numerous trains are having problems, for the “expediter” to arrive and then walk the train.
How many “expediters” will they have? One every 50 miles? Every 100 miles? After the first slow day they will want to increase their territories and reduce the number of them available.
Reading the recrew report, a train at Sydney NE had mechanical problems with a locomotive. Sydney was once the crew change between North Platte and Cheyenne. There had been a roving mechanical department person (Called a Foreman General on the original UP side, MIC-Mechanic In Charge on exCNW side.) assigned there until they needed more cuts. That FG’s position, along with others was cut. The train waited 3 hours for the FG out of South Morrill NE to show up.
I noticed the comments were turned off.
Jeff
P.S. Even E Hunter Harrison didn’t want single person crews.
According to the video: Sam is busy with a variety of “planned activities” when a train has an unexpected event.
So, what are the planned activities? Yard utility? Crew transporter? And are these activities one Sam can leave at the drop of a hat to go help a road train?
And if these positions do get implemented, are us people who have been with the railroad for several years going to have the chance to hold these jobs?
I don’t know how it is with other places - but our utilities are always the first jobs they cut when things get slightly tight. Or when a new supervisor comes in.
What percentage of conductors go on to become engineers?
If a conductor who aspired to be an engineer worked on the ground, as opposed to the cab, would it lengthen the amount of training he/she would need to qualify as an engineer?
At the present time anyone that is hired on as a Conductor is required to go into Engineer training ‘when their seniority is called’. If they don’t they are terminated. If they start Engineer training and FAIL, they are terminated.
The Carriers over the recent decades have eliminated the positions that once provided ‘on the job training’ for employees to progress from ‘off the street’ to becoming knowledgable, productive and safe employees in positions of responsibility.
Kinda reminds me of the military, as well as the “Peter Principal.” In both cases, someone who is perfectly competent at a given job ends up with a promotion into a position they are clearly incapable of holding. In the military, if you want more pay, you have to get promoted, which can change you from a worker bee to a supervisor, whether you want to or not.
Those interested in the Peter Principle are invited to seek out a copy of Laurence Peter’s book. The “percussive sublimation” is an interesting practice…
I believe it was the 1972 agreement that required trainmen to be offered any slots for engine service that opened up. The 1985 agreement calls for all trainmen hired after that date would be subject to going to engine service. After 1985 you had to start as a trainman first, generally speaking. I know of some engineers who hired on in the early 1990s who went through conductor training but never worked as one. They were promoted on a Friday and started engineer training the next Monday.
Currently for us, as long as there are enough junior people willing to go to engine service they won’t force someone to go. There’s 4 out of my 1998 trainmen’s class still working and 2 of them never went to engine service.